Bosal device

ABSTRACT

A bosal device for restraining a horse against rearing his head and gapping. The device includes an elongated resilient bosal ring for encircling the horse&#39;&#39;s nose and having arcuate inwardly bowed upper side portions which bear on the regions of intersection of the upper lip levetator muscles, cheek straps for attaching the sides of the ring to the brow band-throat latch loop of the bridle head stall, and a hold-down member for attaching the lower end of the ring to the saddle girt in a manner such that when the horse raises his head above normal riding position, the hold-down member pulls on the ring to press the arcuate ring portions against the muscle intersection regions. When the horse&#39;&#39;s head occupies normal riding position, the lower section of the ring swings to a forward position under the lower jaw such that when gapping, the lower jaw forces the ring downwardly, thereby again causing pressure of the arcuate ring portions against the muscle intersection regions. This pressure produces a slight discomfort which inhibits the head rearing and gapping without bruising.

United States Patent Blair 51 Apr. 25, 1972 BOSAL DEVICE Raymond Blair, 529 West Grondahl, Covina, Calif. 91722 22 Filed: May21, 1970 211 Appl.No.: 39,452

[72} Inventor:

Primary Examiner-l-lugh R. Chamblee AIt0rney-Boniard I. Brown [57] ABSTRACT A bosal device for restraining a horse against rearing his head and gapping. The device includes an elongated resilient bosal ring for encircling the horses nose and having arcuate inwardly bowed upper side portions which bear on the regions ofintersection of the upper lip levetator muscles, cheek straps for attaching the sides of the ring to the brow band-throat latch loop of the bridle head stall, and a hold-down member for attaching the lower end of the ring to the saddle girt in a manner such that when the horse raises his head above normal riding position, the hold-down member pulls on the ring to press the arcuate ring portions against the muscle intersection regions. When the horses head occupies normal riding position, the lower section of the ring swings to a forward position under the lower jaw such that when gapping, the lower jaw forces the ring downwardly, thereby again causing pressure of the arcuate ring portions against the muscle intersection regions. This pressure produces a slight discomfort which inhibits the head rearing and gapping without bruising.

10 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PAYENYEBAPR 25 m2 3, 657, 863

//\/l/NTOR PA wvro/va BLA IR BOSAL DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to equestrian equipment and more particularly to a novel bosal device for restraining a horse against rearing his head and gapping.

2. Prior Art Two actions by a riding horse which seriously interfer with proper control are head rearing and gapping. Head rearing, as the name implies, involves abrupt raising of the horses head above normal riding position. Gapping occurs when the horse repeatedly opens his mouth wide. Both of these actions inhibit proper response of the horse to rein pressure and hence proper control of the horse by the rider.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The bosal device of the present invention is designed to restrain or discourage a horse from both rearing his head and gapping by applying pressure to relatively sensitive muscle areas of his nose whenever he attempts to rear his head or gap. This pressure is applied gently in such a way as to not hurt or bruise the horse but yet produce sufficient discomfort to encourage the horse to maintain his head in proper riding position and not gap. The sensitive regions to which pressure is applied are the regions of intersection of the upper lip Ievetator muscles, that is the regions where the muscles cross. These regions are located at opposite sides of the nose about midway between the eyes and the tip of the nose, approximately on lines joining the eyes and nostrils.

To these ends, the bosal device is provided with an elongated, resilient bosal ring for encircling the horses nose adjacent the regions of intersection of upper lip levator muscles. This bosal ring has an upper section of generally inverted U- shape which extends across the bridge and downwardly along the sides of the nose and a lower section of generally U-shape which extends across the underside and upwardly along the sides of the lower jaw. The upper ring section has arcuate inwardly bowed side portions which converge in the upward direction of the ring in a manner such that a downward force on the ring causes these ring portions to exert pressure on the nose adjacent the sensitive muscle intersection regions.

Cheek straps joined to opposite sides of the bosal ring are provided to attach the latter to the brow band-throat latch loop of the bridle head stall. A hold-down member is secured to the lower section of the ring. This hold-down member passes through a guide on a throat loop for encircling the horses neck and is adapted to pass between the horses front legs and to be attached to the saddle girt at the under side of the horses chest.

When the horse attempts to rear his head, the hold-down member becomes taut and thus exerts a downward force on the bosal ring. This downward force on the ring presses the arcuate ring portions against the sensitive muscle regions, thus encouraging the horse to keep or flex his head down in normal riding position. In this normal position, lower section of the ring swings to a forward position under the lower jaw, such that if the horse attempts to gap, his lower jaw presses down on the bosal ring. This downward force again presses the arcuate ring sections against the sensitive regions of the nose to discourage the horse from gapping.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates a horse equipped with a present bosal device and showing in broken lines a conventional bridle;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view of the bosal device;

FIG. 3 is an enlarge fragmentary side view of the bosal device;

FIG. 4 is a section taken on line 44 in FIG. 2',

FIG. 5 is a side view of the horse in FIG. 1 illustrating the manner in which the present bosal device restrains the horse from rearing his head; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 illustrating the manner in which the present bosal device restrains the horse against DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIGS. 1, 5 and 6, a horse 10 is equipped with a conventional bridle l2 and a present bosal device 14. Bridle 12 includes a headstall 16, bit 18 and reins 20. Headstall 16has a loop 22 providing a brow band 24 and a throatlatch 26. Since the bridle 12 is conventional, no further explanation of the same is'necessary.

The present bosal device 14 includes an elongated, resilient bosal ring 28 for encircling the horses nose 30 adjacent the sensitive muscle regions 32 referred to earlier. These sensitive muscle regions are the regions of intersection of the upper lip levator muscles. Bosal ring 28 has an upper section 34 of generally inverted U-shape and a lower section 36 of generally U-shape. The upper ring section 34 has an upper portion 38 which extends across the bridge of the horse s nose 30 and arcuate side portions 40 which extend downwardly along the sides of the nose. These arcuate ring portions converge in the upward direction of the ring and bow inwardly to bear against the sensitive muscle regions 32. The lower ring section 36 has a lower portion 42 which extends across the underside of the lower jaw 44 and upwardly divergent side portions 46 which extend upwardly along opposite sides of the jaw. A yoke 48 is joined to the center of the lower ring portion 42. As shown in FIG. 4, bosal ring 28 has an inner resilient metal frame 49a and an outer protective sheath 49b.

Bosal ring 28 is attached to the bridle headstall 16 by cheek straps 50. The front ends of these straps are attached to opposite sides of the bosal ring 28 at the lower ends of the arcuate ring portions 40. The rear ends of the cheek straps are attached to the bridle loop 22 at the juncture of its brow band 24 and throatlatch 26. It is evident from the drawings, particularly FIG. 2, that the center of gravity of the ring is located well below the points of attachment of the cheek straps 50 to the ring.

A hold-down member 52 is attached at one end to the lower bosal ring yoke 48. This hold-down member passes through a guide 54 on a throat loop 56 for encircling the horses neck 58. From the guide 54, the hold-down member passes between the horses frontlegs 60 and is attached, at its end, to the bottom of the saddle girt 62. Hold-down member 52 is so dimensioned that when the horse holds his head in the normal riding position of FIG. 6, the strap is slack and thus does not pull down on the bosal ring 28. When the horse attempts to raise his head above this normal position, the strap comes taut, as shown in FIG. 5 and thus pulls down on the bosal ring. This downward force on the ring pulls the upper tapered portion of the ring downwardly over the horses nose, thereby expanding the ring slightly and causing the arcuate ring sections 40 to exert resilient pressure against the sensitive muscle regions 32 of the horses nose 30. This pressure encourages the horse to hold his head in or flex down to normal position without brusing the horse.

As mentioned above, the center of gravity of the bosal ring 28 is located well below the cheek straps 50. As a consequence, when the hold-down member 52 slackens upon flexing 'of the horse's head to normal position, the lower tapered ring section 36 swings to a forward position under the lower jaw 44, as shown in FIG. 6. In this position, if the horse attempts to gap, his lower jaw presses down on the bosal ring, thereby again causing resilient pressure of the arcuate ring portions 40 against the sensitive muscle regions 32. The bosal device thus also discourages gapping.

Iclaim:

1. A bosal device for a horse wearing a bridle having a headstall comprising:

an elongated bosal ring for encircling the horses nose adjacent the regions of intersection of his upper lip levator muscles, said ring comprising a relatively stiff though resilient annular frame extending about the entire ring,

said bosal ring including an upper section having an upper end portion which extends over and side portions which extend downwardly along the sides of the nose and a lower section having a lower end portion which extends under and side portions which extend upwardly along the sides ofthe lowerjaw,

said upper ring side portions diverging in the downward direction of said ring so as to bear inwardly against said nose regions,

cheek straps secured to the sides of said ring for attaching said ring to said bridle headstall, said ring being so sized that the ring normally encircles the horse s nose with said upper ring side portions bearing against said nose regions and said upper ring end portion spaced above the bridge of the nose, and

means on the lower end of said ring to which strap means may be attached for exerting a downward pull on said ring to press said upper ring side portions against said nose regions to inhibit the horse against rearing his head.

2. A bosal device according to claim 1 wherein:

said upper ring side portions curve outwardly away from one another in the downward direction of said ring, whereby said upper ring side portions bow inwardly toward one another to press against said muscle intersection regions.

3. A bosal device according to claim 2 wherein:

said headstall had a loop providing a lower throat-latch and an upper brow band, and

said cheek straps are attached at one end to opposite sides of said ring adjacent the junctures of said upper and lower ring side portions and have means for attachment at their other ends to said loop.

4. A bosal device according to claim 3 wherein:

the center of gravity of said ring is located below the points of attachment of the cheek straps to the ring, such that in the normal riding position of the horses head, said lower ring section swings forwardly to a forward position under the lower jaw wherein lowering of the lower jaw produces a downward force on said ring to press said upper ring side portions against the nose and thereby inhibit the horse from gapping.

5. A bosal device according to claim 1 including:

a hold-down strap attached at one end to said lower strap attaching means and adapted for attachment at its other end to the girt of a saddle on the horse in the manner such that said strap pulls downwardly and rearwardly on said ring to press said upper ring side portions against the nose when the horse rears his head.

6. In combination with a bridle having a headstall, a bosal device comprising:

an elongated bosal ring for encircling the horses nose adjacent the regions of intersection of his upper lip levator muscles, said ring comprising a relatively stiff though resilient annular frame extending about the entire ring,

said bosal ring including an upper section having an upper end portion which extends over and side portions which extend downwardly along the sides of the nose and a lower section having a lower end portion which extends under and side portions which extend upwardly along the sides of the lower jaw,

said upper ring side portions diverging in the downward direction of said ring so as to bear inwardly against said nose regions,

cheek straps secured at one end to the side of said ring and at the other end to said bridle headstall,

said ring being so sized that the ring normally encircles the horses nose with said upper ring side portions bearing against said nose regions and said upper ring end portion spaced above the bridge of the nose, and

means on the lower end of said ring to which strap means may be attached for exerting a downward pull on said ring to press said upper ring side portions against said nose regions to inhibit the horse against rearing his head.

7. The combination of claim 6 wherein: said upper ring side portlons curve outwardly away from one another in the downward direction of said ring, whereby said upper ring side portions bow inwardly toward one another to press against said muscle intersection regions,

said headstall includes a loop defining a lower throat-latch and an upper brow band,

said cheek straps are attached at one end to opposite of said ring adjacent the junctures of said upper and lower ring side portions and at their other ends to said loop; and

the center of gravity of said ring is located below the points of attachment of said cheek straps to said ring, whereby in the normalriding position of the horses head said lower ring section swings forwardly to a forward position under the lower jaw wherein lowering of the lower jaw produces a downward force on said ring to press said upper ring side portions against the nose and thereby inhibit the horse from gapping.

8. The combination according to claim 7 including:

a hold-down strap attached at one end to said lower strap attaching means and adapted for attachment at its other end to the girt of a saddle on the horse in the manner such 7 that said strap pulls downwardly and rearwardly on said ring to press said upper ring side portions against the nose when the horse rears his head.

9. A bosal ring comprising:

an elongated bosal ring for encircling the horses nose adjacent the regions of intersection of his upper lip levator muscles, said ring comprising a relatively stiff though resilient annular frame extending about the entire ring,

said bosal ring including an upper section having an upper end portion which extends over and side portions which extend downwardly along the sides of the nose and a lower section having a lower end portion which extends 7 under and side portions which extend upwardly along the sides of the lower jaw, and

said upper ring side portions diverging in the downward direction of said ring so as to bear inwardly against said nose regions.

10. A bosal ring according to claim 9 wherein:

said upper ring side portions curve outwardly away from one another in the downward direction of said ring, whereby said upper ring side portions bow inwardly toward one another to press against said muscle intersection regions. 

1. A bosal device for a horse wearing a bridle having a headstall comprising: an elongated bosal ring for encircling the horse''s nose adjacent the regions of intersection of his upper lip levator muscles, said ring comprising a relatively stiff though resilient annular frame extending about the entire ring, said bosal ring including an upper section having an upper end portion which extends over and side portions which extend downwardly along the sides of the nose and a lower section having a lower end portion which extends under and side portions which extend upwardly along the sides of the lower jaw, said upper ring side portions diverging in the downward direction of said ring so as to bear inwardly against said nose regions, cheek straps secured to the sides of said ring for attaching said ring to said bridle headstall, said ring being so sized that the ring normally encircles the horse''s nose with said upper ring side portions bearing against said nose regions and said upper ring end portion spaced above the bridge of the nose, and means on the lower end of said ring to which strap means may be attached for exerting a downward pull on said ring to press said upper ring side portions against said nose regions to inhibit the horse against rearing his head.
 2. A bosal device according to claim 1 wherein: said upper ring side portions curve outwardly away from one another in the downward direction of said ring, whereby said upper ring side portions bow inwardly toward one another to press against said muscle intersection regions.
 3. A bosal device according to claim 2 wherein: said headstall had a loop providing a lower throat-latch and an upper brow band, and said cheek straps are attached at one end to opposite sides of said ring adjacent the junctures of said upper and lower ring side portions and have means for attachment at their other ends to said loop.
 4. A bosal device according to claim 3 wherein: the center of gravity of said ring is located below the points of attachment of the cheek straps to the ring, such that in the normal riding position of the horse''s head, said lower ring section swings forwardly to a forward position under the lower jaw wherein lowering of the lower jaw produces a downward force on said ring to press said upper ring side portions against the nose and thereby inhibit the horse from gapping.
 5. A bosal device according to claim 1 including: a hold-down strap attached at one end to said lower strap attaching means and adapted for attachment at its other end to the girt of a saddle on the horse in the manner such that said strap pulls downwardly and rearwardly on said ring to press said upper ring side portions against the nose when the horse rears his head.
 6. In combination with a bRidle having a headstall, a bosal device comprising: an elongated bosal ring for encircling the horse''s nose adjacent the regions of intersection of his upper lip levator muscles, said ring comprising a relatively stiff though resilient annular frame extending about the entire ring, said bosal ring including an upper section having an upper end portion which extends over and side portions which extend downwardly along the sides of the nose and a lower section having a lower end portion which extends under and side portions which extend upwardly along the sides of the lower jaw, said upper ring side portions diverging in the downward direction of said ring so as to bear inwardly against said nose regions, cheek straps secured at one end to the side of said ring and at the other end to said bridle headstall, said ring being so sized that the ring normally encircles the horse''s nose with said upper ring side portions bearing against said nose regions and said upper ring end portion spaced above the bridge of the nose, and means on the lower end of said ring to which strap means may be attached for exerting a downward pull on said ring to press said upper ring side portions against said nose regions to inhibit the horse against rearing his head.
 7. The combination of claim 6 wherein: said upper ring side portions curve outwardly away from one another in the downward direction of said ring, whereby said upper ring side portions bow inwardly toward one another to press against said muscle intersection regions, said headstall includes a loop defining a lower throat-latch and an upper brow band, said cheek straps are attached at one end to opposite of said ring adjacent the junctures of said upper and lower ring side portions and at their other ends to said loop; and the center of gravity of said ring is located below the points of attachment of said cheek straps to said ring, whereby in the normal riding position of the horse''s head said lower ring section swings forwardly to a forward position under the lower jaw wherein lowering of the lower jaw produces a downward force on said ring to press said upper ring side portions against the nose and thereby inhibit the horse from gapping.
 8. The combination according to claim 7 including: a hold-down strap attached at one end to said lower strap attaching means and adapted for attachment at its other end to the girt of a saddle on the horse in the manner such that said strap pulls downwardly and rearwardly on said ring to press said upper ring side portions against the nose when the horse rears his head.
 9. A bosal ring comprising: an elongated bosal ring for encircling the horse''s nose adjacent the regions of intersection of his upper lip levator muscles, said ring comprising a relatively stiff though resilient annular frame extending about the entire ring, said bosal ring including an upper section having an upper end portion which extends over and side portions which extend downwardly along the sides of the nose and a lower section having a lower end portion which extends under and side portions which extend upwardly along the sides of the lower jaw, and said upper ring side portions diverging in the downward direction of said ring so as to bear inwardly against said nose regions.
 10. A bosal ring according to claim 9 wherein: said upper ring side portions curve outwardly away from one another in the downward direction of said ring, whereby said upper ring side portions bow inwardly toward one another to press against said muscle intersection regions. 